8 Bit Doctor Who Christmas Gifts

If you’re in need a quick and easy gift to give to a friend/family member then look no further, these 8-Bit Doctor Who characters are fantastic and are fun additions to include in a Christmas present. They’re also quite good to keep for yourself for keepsake. I wouldn’t recommend only giving these as a present, they’re fun to put as a small present to accompany an ordinary gift.
I created 15 8-bit templates, a mixture of companions and Doctors, which you can use as reference for your creations. Feel free to make bigger versions of these, perhaps 4 beads for each pixel, or just do what I do and use a bead for each pixel. They’re super easy to make and only take a few minutes. All you need are some perler beads, some fuse bead paper (ironing paper), and a template board, as well as an iron with the steam on the lowest setting. For my tutorial (see below), I used a 14×14 perler template board, white/red/black/skin coloured beads and a suitably sized fuse bead paper. I would recommended having a background of some kind surrounding the character if you’re concerned with parts falling off (particularly the legs). 

The templates are all at the end of this post, simply click on the one you want and use it as reference! 

These are the beads I used. They’re initially quite difficult to manage, especially if you’re as clumsy as myself, however after you get going and get used to it, you’ll be fine. 

Simply place the beads onto the board in relation to the squares on the templates I’ve created below. As mentioned earlier, it’s perfectly fine to put 4 beads on for one pixel square if you want a bigger figure, although you’ll need a much bigger board. Start off with the head, be sure to place them at the very top of the board to ensure you have enough space for the body. 

Don’t fret too much about it all being perfectly aligned at the moment, when you iron it they’ll melt slightly so they’ll fuse together. After you’ve completed the head, move onto the body. Start out from the inside, moving onto the outside.

Once you’ve finished placing all the beads, be sure to double check the colours are in the correct place, then place the paper on top of the beads. Turn your iron on to a medium heat setting, with the steam on the lowest setting possible. Once it’s all heated up, gently rotate in a circular motion over the beads for 20-30 seconds. I placed a book on-top of the figure for a minute to even it out. Then, I peeled the paper off and turned the figure over and re-placed the paper. Repeat the circular motion so both sides are evenly melted. At this stage, the leg came off so I reattached it by focused on the leg for a quick few seconds. Again, leave the book on-top of it for a minute or so and then peel off the paper once again. And there it is, you’re finished. 

Excuse the wonky leg. But here it is, the Twelfth Doctor in 8-bit form! Perfect to include in a Christmas present, or to keep for yourself!

The templates are below. If you do make some of these, be sure to show me on Twitter @TotallyCulture, Facebook ‘Totally Culture’, or tag me on Instagram ‘TotallyCulture‘. Feel free to respond below too! I’d love to see your attempts!

The Doctors

(L-R, from the top) Twelfth Doctor, Eleventh Doctor, Tenth Doctor, Ninth Doctor,

Eighth Doctor, Fifth Doctor, First Doctor. 

The Companions

 (L-R, from the top) Clara Oswald, Amy Pond, Rory Williams, River Song,

Donna Noble, Martha Jones, Rose Tyler, Sarah Jane Smith

That’s all for now. See you soon!

Bye!

Totally Culture

Curtis

Doctor Who: Christmas Specials Reviews

So far Whovians have been treated to 10 New-Who Christmas specials. 5 (or 6 if you count The End of Time P.1 & P.2 seperately) with David Tennant’s Tenth Doctor, 4 with Matt Smith’s Eleventh Doctor and 1 with Peter Capaldi’s Twelfth Doctor, with the upcoming The Husbands of River Song adding another Christmas episode to Capaldi’s tenure.

The Doctor Who Christmas specials are a HUGE part of Christmas Day in Britain, especially for me. While my family are playing games, I can be found watching Doctor Who, no exceptions. Here are some summaries and general thoughts about the Christmas specials so far, in anticipation of the 2015 Christmas special ‘The Husbands of River Song’.

The Christmas Invasion

The first Christmas special of New-Who, this follows the Ninth Doctor’s regeneration into the Tenth Doctor. With the Doctor suffering post-regeneration side effects, it’s up to Jackie Tyler, Mickey Smith and companion Rose Tyler to help him recover, and eventually save the day, alongside returning character Harriet Jones, played by Penelope Wilton who previously starred in Aliens of London. The Sycorax invade London, and following an attempt by Rose to bluff the leader, The Doctor is all better and defeats the Sycorax leader in a duel, in his pyjamas. The episode is fun and quirky which perhaps gives an insightful look as to who the Tenth Doctor is following a darker regeneration, despite the Doctor allowing the Sycorax leader to fall to his death. It’s a decent episode which lends itself to a few plot lines in future episodes (Donna becoming the Doctor-Donna to be specific), however it doesn’t stand out in comparison to future Christmas specials. 

The Runaway Bride

The Doctor, Donna Noble, and… a giant spider woman; the Empress of Racnoss. Donna gets teleported while walking down the aisle, which leads to an amusing conversation when Donna has to jump from a car to the TARDIS, in which she yells “I’m in my wedding dress!” to which the Doctor replies by complimenting how nice she looks. Lots of things happen, eventually leading to the final showdown where The Doctor almost commits genocide only to be stopped by Donna. It’s a greatly comedic episode, however saddening the ending may be with the loss of Donna’s fiancé (however evil he ended up being, it was still sad), and Donna’s heartbreaking declining of the Doctor’s invitation to be his companion. Nevertheless, it’s one of my favourite Christmas specials, it’s funny, Catherine Tate’s initial one-off appearance is brilliant (side note – Donna returning as a companion was also brilliant).

The Voyage of the Damned

The Voyage of the Damned is my favourite Christmas special, with the surprising and unusual addition of Kylie Minogue (and Duke off of Tracy Beaker) being a benefit for the episode, adding some unexpected spontaneity. Set on an interstellar replica of the Titanic (as well as a small bit of London with some Wilfred Mott), the episode sees the Doctor team up with potential companion Astrid (Minogue) and some other characters (Duke from Tracy Beaker and Bannakaffalatta) take on the Heavenly Host (actually quite terrifying) and Max Capricorn, only to see Astrid sacrifice her life to defeat Capricorn, returning for a quick goodbye as ‘stardust’ (aka sentient atoms) only to fly off and roam space as energy, a heart-warming yet sad farewell to Astrid. This episode is highly dramatic, with many supporting characters losing their lives (the Van Hoff’s being a particularly sad one), as well as the death of Astrid and the Doctor’s final farewell to her. The Voyage of the Damned is a truly exhilarating yet touching episode, and is not only my favourite Christmas special, but one of my favourite episodes of Doctor Who as a whole. 

The Next Doctor

This is a fun episode, and the setting was was nice, however I have a hard time coping with the inclusion of the Cybermen in this episode, which brings it down. The addition of David Morrisey’s Jackson Lake as a man who believes he’s the Doctor and Rosita as his companion helps the episode come alive, however as mentioned before the the inclusion of the Cybermen, while necessary for the episode to have an antagonist, is perhaps overdone, more specifically the ‘CyberKing’, which even in the Doctor Who universe where we have living fat and a robot dog, seemed a bit too silly. While the Jackson Lake-storyline is interesting, it’s slightly obstructed by the Cyber-inclusion and thus brings the episode down. 

The End of Time Part 1 & 2

I’m still sad about this two-parter, because it destroyed my heart. The End of Time is the Tenth Doctor’s swansong, and manages to culminate in a dramatic return for Rassilon and The Master, bringing Gallifrey along in the meantime (which is, however, later lost, again). The episode follows the Doctor and Wilfred Mott attempting to defeat the Master, Rassilon returns with Gallifrey and a few other Gallifreyan characters including one disputed to be the Doctor’s mother. Gallifrey looms over Earth, threatening the horrors of the Time War, which leads to a dispute between Rassilon, the Doctor and the Master, leading to Rassilon attempting to kill the Doctor only for the Master to sacrifice himself for the Doctor. Gallifrey is in a Time-Lock, but Wilfred it locked in the Gate’s isolation chamber, so the Doctor sacrifices his life to save Wilfred. The Doctor is about to regenerate, but not before he visits previous companions such as Rose, Martha, Sarah Jane, and Donna, as well as Captain Jack and Verity Newman. He then regenerates into the Eleventh Doctor, my favourite, played by Matt Smith, but not before the Tenth Doctor’s final words… “I don’t want to go”. Tears, non-stop tears. This is an epic story and a true highlight of the Tenth Doctor, who is well-deserving of such an intense, Gallifreyan story. The acting is superb, and the Doctor’s farewell tour visiting his old friends is a delightful way to end the Tenth Doctor’s story. The End of Time is a superb story. 

A Christmas Carol

This was a nice episode, it felt the most Christmas-y of the episodes so far, despite the shark. No, seriously, a shark. Michael Gambon is a surprising addition, playing a cruel and Scrooge-like character Kazran Sardick, who has been in love with Abigail (played by Katherine Jenkins in her acting debut) all of his life, with Abigail being cyrogenically frozen since Kazran’s youth. Abigail has an incurable disease, and thus Kazran is devastated that he cannot let her out anymore. Amidst all this, Amy and Rory are hurtling towards Earth after the ship they are on has been struck by lightning. The Doctor visits Kazran at various stages in his life in an attempt to make him kinder and help save Amy and Rory, and following a whole kerfuffle and a shark eating the sonic screwdriver, Kazran does so by letting Abigail out one last time to sing… which somehow saves Amy and Rory…? As mentioned before, this episode is heartwarming and very Christmas-y in comparison to previous episodes. It’s definitely one to check out, if you can cope with the bizarre inclusion of fish in the atmosphere. (Legit)

The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe

Admittedly, I’m not a huge fan of this episode. It seems a bit unnecessary, although it means well (a touching WWII story) and helps set up future stories. It’s a ‘silly’ and bizarre episode, however heartwarming it is at the end, with the family reunited with their father and the Doctor shedding a tear when he visits his companions Amy and Rory. However, the episode under uses the killer cast it has, which includes Bill Bailey, Alexander Armstrong, Arabella Weir and Sam Stockman, which is why this episode tends to be overlooked, despite its moral compass. 

The Snowmen

Potentially one of my favourite episodes for Jenna Coleman who returns as another splinter of Clara Oswald, in this case, a Victorian barmaid/governess Clara Oswin Oswald. The story follows a reclusive, post-Manhattan (death of Amy and Rory) Eleventh Doctor in Victorian England, aided by Madame Vastra, Jenny Flint and Strax (the Paternoster Gang); the Doctor learns of the ‘snowmen’ and decides to help Clara after she intrigues him following a sequence of coincidences. In come the Great Intelligence (voiced by Ian McKellan) and Dr Simeon, alongside the Ice Governess and the Snowmen. After a whole kerfuffle, the Ice Governess climbs up the staircase leading to the TARDIS which is parked on a cloud, the Governess pulls Clara off the cloud. Clara dies after saying “Run you clever boy and remember”, setting up the ‘impossible girl’ storyline and ending a rather dramatic and enticing Christmas special. To summarise, The Snowmen is a very memorable Christmas special for Doctor Who for many reasons – Jenna Coleman‘s return to Doctor Who after playing ‘Not-A-Dalek’ Oswin Oswald, Ian McKellan’s (brief) Great Intelligence voice-over, the Paternoster gang, as well as a darker, grieving portrayal of the Doctor by Matt Smith. 

The Time of The Doctor

Coming to this episode knowing this would be my favourite Doctor’s final story, I anticipated a huge, fulfilling story and my expectations were high. While the story was complex and seemed to round up a lot of loose-ends throughout the Eleventh Doctor’s run, it seemed underwhelming as a farewell for what is one of the best Doctors of all time. The story itself is perhaps suitable for the tone of the series and the 50th anniversary trilogy episodes, it just didn’t seem suitable for the Eleventh Doctor, perhaps being a more suitable end for the Twelfth Doctor if the story were adapted to fit his overall story arc, as the Eleventh Doctor, while dark at times, was mostly quirky and loving. The Doctor and Clara travel to the town Christmas, on Trenzalore, where a prophecy says that the Doctor will spend the last of his years. The Doctor realises that the ‘crack in time’ is a message from the Time Lords on Gallifrey, and so sends Clara back home so he can spend thousands of years fighting lots of aliens (including the Weeping Angels, Cybermen, and ultimately the Daleks), only for Clara to return to find the Doctor is about to die and so convinces the Time Lords to give the Doctor a new regeneration cycle. Then, it happens. The Doctor begins to regenerate in the Tardis, dropping his bow tie and saying a final goodbye to Clara and a hallucination of Amy Pond, as well as saying “I will always remember when the Doctor was me” and then regenerates into Peter Capaldi’s Twelfth Doctor. The episode is redeemed by Matt Smith’s performance during his regeneration, notably his final speech, and this sequence has quickly become one of my favourite scenes from Doctor Who’s entire history, however much I may disregard the rest of the episode. To summarise; while the episode itself doesn’t really stand out for me, the regeneration scene does in a way that moves me and makes me appreciate just how brilliant Matt Smith was as the Doctor. 

Last Christmas

Can you get any more Christmas-y than having actual Santa in the episode? Nick Frost is slightly underused in the role, however, in comparison to Natalie Gumede and Faye Marsay who stand out particularly well out of the supporting cast members. So, in this episode, Clara wakes up to find Santa Claus on her rooftop, yep. Santa Claus. The Twelfth Doctor turns up and whisks Clara away in the TARDIS. Meanwhile, at the North Pole (a lot of Christmas for a Christmas special, right?) a group of scientists try to save their fellow personnel from crab-like creatures… a truly bizarre episode, right? The crabs induce a dream state while devouring a person’s brain. However, all of this ends up being a dream, so everyone escapes after dreaming that Santa is flying them home (?!) Everyone wakes up, until Clara is the left whereby the Doctor removes the crab from Clara to find that it’s been over 60 years since they last met, until Santa appears which makes the Doctor realise that it’s, again, a dream. Everything becomes real again and the Doctor asks Clara to rejoin him, to which she accepts. Last Christmas is a fun, if not bizarre, and quirky story with slight hints of darkness throughout which encompasses all things Doctor Who. This episode stands out amongst a few others in all 10 of the Doctor Who Christmas specials so far, and rightfully so, seeing as it embodies all things Christmas. 

The next Christmas special:

The Husbands of River Song

Be sure to check back for my review of The Husbands of River Song, which airs on Christmas Day. The episode will feature Capaldi as the Twelfth Doctor, as well as Alex Kingston’s long-awaited return as River Song, as well as guest stars Matt Lucas and Greg Davies amongst a few others.

The review will be posted in the next day or two.

Thanks for reading! I’ll be posting some more Christmas themed content throughout December!

Bye!

Totally Culture

Curtis

Farewell, Clara Oswald

Oh my goodness, I cannot fathom the concept of Jenna Coleman no longer being in Doctor Who. However, we have one more episode of Clara (or, perhaps a Clara splinter) in Hell Bent, the finale of Series 9. While watching Face The Raven, our dear Clara’s final adventure (unless Moffat is at large here), I went through a whole lot of emotional stages. To be fair, we have gone through quite a few Clara deaths. 

But then, it finally happened. Clara Oswald died, and the hearts of Doctor Who fans everywhere were shattered into tiny pieces.

So, let’s revisit the story of Clara Oswald, my favourite companion and The Doctor’s saviour. 

Jenna Coleman is cast as Clara Oswald, and makes her first surprise appearance as Oswin Oswald in Asylum of the Dalek (you know, that episode where Amy and Rory stopped hating each other). Only, in this episode Oswin Oswald turns out to be a Dalek (even though she swears she’s not), and ends up destroying the asylum and removing The Doctor from the Dalek’s memory.

Following this episode, and a heartbreaking departure for Amy and Rory, we were left wondering how Clara would return if she’s died in the Asylum. At this point, Clara Oswin Oswald is introduced, in the 2013 Christmas special ‘The Snowmen’. But, Clara Oswin Oswald died too. 

So, then we’re left pondering how we’ve met two Clara/Oswin’s so far, and how she’ll end up being the next companion. 

We’re introduced to the actual Clara Oswald in The Bells of Saint John, and a whole series passes without knowing how the heck Clara has popped up three times so far. Until… The Name of The Doctor, in which we finally discover the truth about Clara Oswald. She jumped into The Doctor’s timeline and was splintered throughout his timeline to save him, so… Clara has assisted every single Doctor. She even told the first Doctor which TARDIS to choose…

And thus, the mystery of the Impossible Girl is solved. In the 50th anniversary episode The Day of The Doctor she convinced the three Doctors (War, Ten and Eleven) to save Gallifrey, and then was around for The Eleventh Doctor’s final episode ‘The Time of The Doctor’. Then series 8 came along, we met the Twelfth Doctor, they had some adventures (and a few hundred arguments) and also said ‘hello’ and a devastating ‘R.I.P’ to her beau Danny Pink. Then series 9 came along, along with the confirmation of Jenna leaving Doctor Who. While the series has yet to conclude at the time of writing, one of the bigger story arcs was Clara’s recklessness and desire to be exactly like the Doctor. Many hints towards her death happened, including some from Maisie William’s Ashildr/Me, and Michelle Gomez’ ‘Missy’. Then, the episode came. Face the Raven started, and Clara died. SHE ACTUALLY DIED. 

Here’s my reaction…

Clara Oswald was a truly iconic companion. Often fans would complain that she overshadowed the Doctor, but they forget that the companion of the show is the one we relate to the most, so rightfully so they should be just as important as the Doctor. Clara was a nice deviation from the ‘screaming companions’ which we’ve had from most of the New-Who companions (looking at you, Rose). Clara was the Doctor’s saviour, helping out every incarnation so far, and I applaud Jenna Coleman for her absolutely stunning work as Clara. I do feel like there may be more to come in the next two episodes, but for now, lets celebrate a wonderful Doctor Who companion.

Now, I’m off to go cry, again.

Diversity and Change In The Media

Hello! Today, I’d like to discuss diversity and change within the media. This is an area that’s fairly prevalent in today’s culture, notably with recent events regarding such cases as the death of Sandra Bland, Viola Davis’ Emmy win, and the upcoming Black Panther, Captain Marvel and Wonder Woman and Cyborg movies. 

First, we should consider the statistics behind the media. Who’s watching? What are the viewing patterns? 

Source – BFI

Taking into consideration that diverse audiences consume the media much more heavily than the norm, we have to wonder why there is so little representation of these audiences within it. This isn’t to say there is a complete ignorance for diverse characters in the media; Mindy Lahiri (The Mindy Project), Gloria and Manny Pritchett (Modern Family), Melinda May (Agents of SHIELD). Yet, considering these, diverse characters still fall to stereotypes. Modern Family, one of my favourite TV shows as of current, features Gloria, a Latino ‘bombshell’ dating an older man. Stereotype. With Modern Family, though, Gloria especially has developed considerably in character, and while many of her stories focus on her ethnicity, it’s often overlooked and she’s now seen as, simply, Gloria. Continuing with Modern Family, there is slight deviance with Cam and Mitchell, who are a gay couple who adopted a Vietnamese girl at the start of the first season. Hooray for diversity. 

At the time of writing, I noticed a hashtag on Twitter floating around – #allmalepanel

At a Tory Party Conference, there were 16 all male panels, less than two days into the conference. I thought I’d reference this because, again, it simply symbolises the need for diversity and change, not only in the media, but in politics also. Check out Buzzfeed’s post about it here.

Examples of diversity

DC Comics; John Constantine (bisexual, Liverpudlian magic wielding hero), Katana (Japanese superhero), Cyborg (half-man half-mechanical hero genius)

As a DC fan myself, admittedly it is hard to find diverse characters in the comics. DC Comics themselves have said that the lack of proper representation of minorities is an industry-wide problem, despite an increase from different racial backgrounds taking interest in its contents. 

Doctor Who; Mickey Smith, Madame Vastra and Jenny Flint (inter-species wives), Martha Jones

Doctor Who, a show about a time-travelling Time Lord and their companion(s) going around the universe saving the day. Yet, we got our first non-white companion (Martha Jones) in 2007, 44 years after the debut of the show on 23rd November 1963. Following Martha’s departure at the end of series 3 (of the revived Doctor Who), we’ve yet to go back to a diverse companion, with Donna, Amy, Rory and Clara following. With Clara set to leave at the end of the current series. could we be getting another diverse companion? 

On the topic of Doctor Who, episodes in recent years have confirmed that a Time ‘person’ can change genders. As seen with The Master:

Michelle Gomez’s incarnation of The Master, namely Missy, is my favourite, and also the current incarnation. Seeing the character change into a Time Lady feels no different to how the character was before, the character is still as insane and evil as ever, which is pleasant. The character is defined by her actual persona, not gender. Which is why it’s such a concern that so many people seem to despise the idea of The Doctor becoming a woman. Doctor Who features aliens and historical characters, we’ve seen moving statues and living fat, but the idea of a gender switch is ‘awful’. I personally would love to see a female Doctor, accompanied by a male companion, or female, heck, women power!. Hayley Atwell has expressed interest in playing The Doctor, as have many other women. 

This would be awesome, and in no way would harm the success of the show. In fact, a regeneration into a woman would draw much more attention for the show. Wouldn’t harm the ratings, and would provide another needed role model for young girls in today’s society. Such a change would be good for the show, one can only get so bored of a white man travelling around in a blue box for 51 years. 

Harry Potter; Dean Thomas, Padma and Parvati Patil

Harry Potter (the films) featured 12 minority characters in all eight films. Each character speaks on an average of as little as 28 seconds. While the film series does well in glorifying the strength of Emma Watson’s Hermione Granger, giving young girls a role model, the diverse minority characters make up 5 minutes of the entire film series, meaning a lack of role models for people of different races and cultures. See here for more details.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/x67OjOLj11g?feature=player_embedded

Fortunately, in the extended universe of Harry Potter we’ll be able to see actors like Gemma Chan star in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, hopefully providing some role models for young people in the upcoming trilogy of films. 

Marvel; Spider-Man (Miles Morales), Ms. Marvel (Kamala Khan), Hulkling and Wiccan

Miles Morales, a Black Hispanic teenager that takes on the Spider-Man mantle. With Spider-Man being such a huge character, known by pretty much everyone, it was a very important move for Marvel to create a role model like Miles Morales. Even Stan Lee, the co-creator of Spider-Man, has some love for Morales – “Doing our bit to try to make our nation, and the world, color blind is definitely the right thing.” Check out more here. Kamala Khan took on the Ms. Marvel name after Carol Danvers became Captain Marvel, Khan is a teenage Pakistani American from New Jersey, the character was met with huge acclaim for being a Muslim character headlining her own comic book, winning quite a considerable amount of awards. Wiccan and Hulkling are assumed to be Marvel’s most prominent gay couple and have been applauded for showing diversity and progression in comics. See here for further reference about Hulkling and Wiccan.

Further discussion

Having looked at the nominees for the NTA’s (National Television Awards), I noticed that only 2 in the 58 nominees for ‘Drama Performance’ were of colour. This is slightly concerning considering that actually, the diverse audience are much more prominent than the other, yet are again, under-represented and uncelebrated in the media. Which leads me to my final point, Viola Davis, who plays Amanda Waller in the upcoming Suicide Squad movie (featuring the aforementioned Katana), recently won an Emmy, being the first African-American actress to win for best actress in a drama, gave a moving and stirring speech. As seen below, Viola highlights that actually, women of colour cannot win awards if there are no roles available for them in the first place.

This idea is similar for all forms of diversity, a young Muslim girl cannot have a role model if a role model for her is simply not created, thus the creation of Kamala Khan. Martha Jones, a trainee Doctor turned UNIT soldier/badass/doctor, Cyborg, the African-American founder of the New-52 Justice League, and many more, providing role models and positive representation for diverse characters within the media. Hopefully, stirring further progression of diverse characters, albeit race, sexuality, gender and more. 

That’s all for now.

Bye!

Totally Culture

BIZARRE CROSSOVERS

HELLO! Today’s blog post is a bit of a weird one, I mean… no, seriously, it’s a weird one. I have 5 bizarre crossovers that I’d, kind of, like to see. Don’t judge, just appreciate the artistic integrity of these crossovers.

1. Miranda and The Hunger Games 

Hit BBC sitcom Miranda collides with the world of The Hunger Games, with Miranda finding herself and her friends Stevie, Tilly and Gary, and her mother Penny, in Panem. At the quarter quell reaping, it is announced that anybody of any age can be chosen as the district’s tribute for this year’s Hunger Games. Miranda is mistaken for a man (yet again) and finds herself representing District 12 alongside her best friend Stevie Sutton. How will they survive? Will Miranda become the Mockingjay and lead the rebellion against the Capitol? 

2. Modern Family and Doctor Who

Just imagine Cam Tucker against the Weeping Angels. Just imagine the screams. Haley would be confused as heck, and Phil would be trying to be best friends with the Twelfth Doctor. I feel like this crossover would actually work quite well, with Alex Dunphy and Mitchell Pritchett practically becoming the Doctor’s companions while Gloria, Manny and Cam scream in fear of the Weeping Angels. 

3. The Muppets and Miranda Sings/GloZell

With The Muppets getting their TV series, we’re guaranteed tonnes of guest stars. Now, this isn’t much of a crossover as much as a WE NEED GLOZELL WITH KERMIT AND WE NEED MIRANDA SINGS TO ARGUE WITH MISS PIGGY. Just imagine the sass and all the green.

 I ship them. #KerZell

Miranda Sings VS Miss Piggy fight scene please. 

4. Keeping Up Appearances and Downton Abbey

Imagine Hyacinth Bucket (pronounced Bouqet) finally achieving her goals of being an upper class snob, only to be challenged by Maggie Smith’s Violet. Mind you, Hyacinth wouldn’t need servants, she’s got Richard.

5. New Girl and Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt

Jess and Kimmy, the ultimate weird people. It would essentially be an episode where they try to compete over how bizarre they are, while Cece and Titus go shopping and Schmidt, Nick, Coach and Winston fight over Jacqueline Vorhees.

Was that bizarre enough? 

Check back on September 1st for my August Soundtrack, listing 10 songs I’ve been listening to throughout the month!

Bye for now!

TotallyCulture

Doctor Who Themed Cupcakes

Excuse the buttercream, I feel I had to open with that because the buttercream went considerably wrong, it still tastes good though and the colour is rather fun. Basically, THE GREAT BRITISH BAKE OFF IS BACK WAHEYYY. I thought, being a fan of both Doctor Who and The Great British Bake Off, I’d connect the two and make some time vortex themed cupcakes, below I will include the recipe as well as 5 easy steps. Enjoy my bizarre attempt at geek baking.

Ingredients

• Caster sugar 55g
• Icing sugar 55g
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 60ml water
• Baking powder
• Food colour gel paste
• 55g softened butter x2
• Food colouring
• Edible glitter
• 55g plain flour
• 1 medium sized egg
• Edible gold stars
• 6 cupcake cases
• Pinch of salt

Cupcake recipe

• Preheat the oven to 180°/350F/Gas 4
• Place your 6 cupcake cases in the muffin tray
• Put the butter and sugar into a bowl and  beat until it’s pale 
• Sift the flour, baking powder and salt into the bowl, then beat the eggs and vanilla until it’s all combined. Add the food colouring and gel paste to create the time vortex look, and then spoon into the 6 cupcake cases. 
• Bake for 18-20 minutes until the outside has risen and is firm, but also golden on the outside. Cool in the tin for 10 minutes then transfer the 6 cupcakes onto a wire rack to cool more. 

Buttercream recipe

• Beat 55g butter until soft, then beat in 55g icing sugar in, a tablespoon at a time. Add the coloured gel paste used in the mix for the darker tones and mix until it’s an appropriate consistency and the fitting colour, depending on the colour theme you have chosen.
• Pipe onto the cupcakes once they are cooled, and sprinkle the edible glitter over the top of the buttercream in a circular rotation to add bright spirals around the buttercream. Add a small pinch of the glitter to the very top of the buttercream, creating a shiny point at the top.
• Take a few of the edible stars and sprinkle them onto the cupcake, following the glittered spirals. Take some more of the edible stars and place them randomly and loosely in small clusters. 
• EAT

1. Get your ingredients ready

2. Mix that ‘ish

Basically, yeah. Mix it all up. Add a tiny bit of vanilla essence for flavour. 

3. Colour it up

Use one food colouring AND gel for two different consistencies, the gel should be used for the darker effect, the food colouring used for the lighter effect. Don’t mix it fully, leave it to a loose mix to create streaks within the mix, this will create the time vortex look in the bake. Here I used green for lighter and navy blue for darker, use any colour combination to create a time vortex/space effect inside the cake as seen below, I would also recommend yellow/red, pink/purple, red/blue.

4. Conjure up the buttercream

5. Decorate the cakes

I initially used gold edible glitter, however the consistency was too heavy and the colour wasn’t fitting, so I used silver/white edible glitter instead and ‘sprinkled’ it over the cupcake, adding edible gold stars on. On reflection, I wish the buttercream were much darker and a thicker consistency in order to really enhance the whole ‘space’ feel to it.

I’m sure these are cakes the Twelfth Doctor and Clara would happily eat (and maybe spit out). I’m not too sure about Mary Berry and Paul Hollywood though. 

Check out my good friend Sparkleeyes101’s bake for GBBO here, which are considerably better than my failed attempt!

That’s all for now…
Byeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

P.S. Make sure to check back on the 22nd for my Marvel Phase 4 Predictions. What happens after the Infinity War and we’re introduced to the Inhumans? Which superheroes do I predict will debut, get their sequels, and what will be the big Avengers story of the MCU’s Phase Four?

DOCTOR WHO MIX-UPS

Hello! As some of you may be aware, Doctor Who is my favourite thing of all time (other than strawberry squash). Have you ever wondered what it would be like to mix up the chronology of Doctor Who and have some current characters crossover with some older ones and vice versa? Today I’ll be looking into that, enjoy!

1. The First Doctor and… Donna Noble

All the sass. IT’S ALL TOO MUCH. Sass implosion. Sassy Doctor and Donna against sassy Dalek Kahn. SASS. The question here is, who’s the Doctor and who’s the companion? Doctor Donna or The Doctor?

2. The Second Doctor and… Mel Bush

The quirky fab ones with an intense side… I mean, Mel Bush was badass as heck. 

3. The Third Doctor and… River Song

Pow pow pow (that’s all I can say because this pairing is so cool and hip and intense)

4. The Fourth Doctor and… Rose Tyler

This is a fan-service pairing, possibly the most popular companion of New-Who paired with the most popular Doctor of all time, on par with Ten and Eleven. Also, this pairing would genuinely be fun to see. Would you like a jelly baby? DOCTORRRRRR.

5. The Fifth Doctor and… Clara Oswald

My favourite Doctor after Matt Smith’s Eleventh Doctor (I couldn’t really pair Clara with a Doctor she’s actually been a companion of) and my favourite companion. Besides, this pairing would be interesting to see, slightly different characteristics while both being kind and considerate. 

6. The Sixth Doctor and… Martha Jones

One of the harsher Doctor’s paired with the person The Doctor turned into a soldier. Let’s go. Let the badassery destruction begin. (For the greater good of course)

7. The Seventh Doctor and… Captain Jack Harkness

This duo, comedy gold mixed with genuine heroism. Yet, both have a darker side which could be explored brilliantly in the partnership.

8. The Eighth Doctor and… Amy Pond and Rory Williams

The first married couple in the TARDIS with the first ever romantic Doctor. It just works. 

9. The Ninth Doctor and… Tegan Jovanka 

Abrupt and direct, this pairing would be a force to be reckoned with. Just imagine all those speeches and sublime sass.

10. The Tenth Doctor and… Romana (I AND II)

The ultimate time lord and ladies combined for a whole lot of time and saving the world. Huzzah!

11. The Eleventh Doctor and… Ace

Quirky, clumsy and fun with a whole lot of heart. I’m actually desperate for this pairing to happen, PLEASE DOCTOR WHO PLEASSSEEEEEEEE I NEED IT TO HAPPEN.

12. The Twelfth Doctor and… Jo Grant 

Katy Manning’s Jo Grant is my favourite Classic Who companion, and when she reappeared in The Sarah Jane Adventures I was ecstatic.. and then I saw a set of photos from Manning’s visit to the TARDIS after shooting Casualty. 

It looks perfect, right? It actually looks perfect. Imagine Jo Grant adventuring with the Twelfth Doctor and Clara and facing up to Missy, the dynamic from the photo above alone is worthy of screen time. This is something I’d really, really, REALLY, love to see. 

13. The War Doctor and… Leela

Leela is a bad-ass member of a tribe from the future, The War Doctor is, well, it’s in the name. I imagine Leela assisting John Hurt’s Doctor in the time war, destroying the Daleks and ending the time war and (eventually) saving Gallifrey.

That’s all for now, see you soon for a blog post about songs that young people need, songs that are motivating, iconic in teen cult films and songs that were prominent in our childhood. 

Bye for now!

TotallyCulture

My June Soundtrack

Hello! I haven’t written a soundtrack blog post since ‘My March Soundtrack‘ as I’ve been a bit too busy with exams. Now that I’ve finished my exams, I’m back blogging again. June was a fairly hectic month for me, my exams began and ended within 2 weeks, and I had to prepare for Going Down Ball, which was my Year 13 leavers ball, where a tonne of year 12’s, year 13’s and teachers danced through the night in stupidly warm weather in a fancy posh hotel, which was indeed fun. Prior to June, May was also hectic with exam prep and leaving sixth form. However, it’s time to return to my monthly soundtrack posts, in which I list a few of my favourite songs I’ve been listening to that month, either newly released or something I’ve just ‘got back into’. 

Here are some June highlights:

 Florence headlining at Glastonbury

Rigsy’s back in Doctor Who!

Humans on Channel 4, a creepy show about Synths, with the fourth episode airing 5th July.

The Syndicate on BBC One, WHERE IS AMY?!? Final episode airing 7th July.

So, let’s get started:

1. Peanut Butter Jelly – Galantis

https://www.youtube.com/embed/0DaInuaZz08?feature=player_embedded

2. Laura Palmer (RAC Mix) – Bastille

https://www.youtube.com/embed/ldrDxsHQ2hU?feature=player_embedded

3. HAPPY WITH ME – HolyChild

https://www.youtube.com/embed/l1RCPzR1qEw?feature=player_embedded

4. Famous – Charli XCX

https://www.youtube.com/embed/5f5A4DnGtis?feature=player_embedded

5. Headlights – KYKO

https://www.youtube.com/embed/mtuiTh0rTEE?feature=player_embedded

6. West Coast (The GRADES Icon Mix) – Lana Del Rey

https://www.youtube.com/embed/Cldr0OO51EI?feature=player_embedded

7. I Want You Back – Jackson 5

https://www.youtube.com/embed/DGDyAb6pePo?feature=player_embedded

8. Heroes (1999 Remastered Version) – David Bowie

https://www.youtube.com/embed/m3SjCzA71eM?feature=player_embedded

9. Digging Holes – Raglans

https://www.youtube.com/embed/tyXyB3kJP20?feature=player_embedded

10. Future Stars – Cheerleader

https://www.youtube.com/embed/fvCNwPbJJoQ?feature=player_embedded

 Honourable Mentions

Delilah – Florence + the Machine

Lean On (feat. MØ & DJ Snake) – Major Lazer

Cruel City – Augustines

All Those Friendly People – Funeral Suits

Moaning Lisa Smile – Wolf Alice

That’s all! See you soon!

TotallyCulture

I’M BACK WITH A RANT AND SOME GEEKY GOODNESS

Before I start, here are a few pictures to create some hype.

Hello! Yes, I’m back. Bit of a change around here, Geek Culture and Me is now Totally Geek. I thought I’d change it around and has a hypothetical ‘rebranding’ of the blog. I noticed that I was writing more about things that weren’t essentially ‘geeky’, don’t fret – I’ll still be doing some super crazy posts about all things geeky, like Suicide Squad (HOW COOL DO MARGOT ROBBIE AND JARED LETO LOOK AS HARLEY QUINN AND THE JOKER WOAH) and Doctor Who (MAISIE WILLIAMS IN DOCTOR WHO WHAT WHAT WHAT). Basically, I’ve been away for a few months to focus on my exams, and this morning I finished my last exam Sociology (I had two Sociology exams, and just for reference I also took English Lit and Media). It seems that actually I have missed blogging, just because it’s a place for me to be myself in what seems to be a really idealised, constructed society (lol jk I’m just introverted). My gap year has begun, and with this comes more blog posts, some exciting prospects, and some fun travelling (as well as re-applying to University because I withdrew my application).

DISCLAIMER: FEEL FREE TO SKIP THIS WHOLE MASSIVE PARAGRAPH BECAUSE IT’S SIMPLY ABOUT HOW WE SHOULDN’T BE LABELLED IN SOCIETY AND HOW MUCH I SUPPORT FEMINSIM

Anyway, during the ‘intense’ revision period which mainly consisted of binge-watching TV shows, my bad, I found myself really immersed into music, I found that my guilty pleasures won’t really guilty pleasures, they were perhaps just pleasures. I must admit, and it is sad for me to do so, but I feel that there is a kind of social consensus that a (excuse me for being controversial here) white, straight, 17 year old cannot listen to certaint types of music without being laughed at. I mean, heck, screw that. If I want to listen to Beyoncé and Taylor Swift, or listen to Hillsong and songs from musicals, I’m going to do that because we shouldn’t let ourselves be defined by what seems to be this concept of ‘you’re not a man if you don’t behave like a man’, perhaps relating to Tony Porter’s ‘man box’, in which a man is expected to ‘not cry openly or express emotion – except anger’, ‘not express weakness or fear’, ‘be aggressive’, ‘heterosexual’, ‘views women as property/objects’. I find myself in this position, asking why a straight guy can’t listen to a truly respectable artist like Beyoncé, in the fear of being called ‘gay’, why is there this preconception that a straight guy cannot listen to music? I am comfortable enough in my sexuality to be myself and admit that sometimes, I like to listen to the Les Misérables soundtrack, but also admit that sometimes I like to watch action films and be immersed in the oh so ‘manly’ culture. When/If I marry in the very far future, I truly hope that my wife appreciates a quick dance to Taylor Swift’s Shake It Off like I do, there’s nothing wrong with being yourself and the fact that people’s association with such forms of entertainment being negative saddens me, even when reflecting on personal experience. I’ve noticed that with celebrity males, being straight and listening to Beyoncé etc is perfectly fine, however being an ordinary male, being straight and listening to Beyoncé results in people sniggering at you and thinking ‘is he sure?’. That’s sad, that’s depressing. Our society takes pride in taking interest in other people’s personal lives, and with this new wave of feminism that I totally support, which again is a kind of taboo with straight men (I know of only three other friends of mine who can openly admit they support feminism without the fear of being called ‘gay’), it still seems like there’s a division in gender, and a division in character. I believe in a future where a straight male like myself can listen to certain music without being laughed at because it’s ‘gay’ and ‘feminine’, I believe in a future where a straight woman gets a short haircut without being labelled a ‘lesbian’. I believe in a future where genders are treated equally, and we don’t have to hide behind a false mask in order to avoid being falsely labelled, because there is absolutely nothing wrong with being labelled as ‘gay’, ‘feminine’, ‘lesbian’ or ‘butch’, but it would be just as nice to be labelled as something true, to be labelled as ourselves. Self-identification is the future, not peer-identification. 

Anyway, rant over. I thought I’d continue with some fanboyish moments. 

How great was Avengers: Age of Ultron? I got to see it with a group of good friends for free because one of them worked at the cinema, and I found myself so involved in the film. So good! How great is Elizabeth Olsen as Scarlet Witch? Why did REVLISKCIUQ (SPOILERS read that backwards, unless you want to avoid spoilers) have to die?!?!?!?! The Vision is my new idol. 

Suicide Squad set pictures are fantastic, and the fan-art is just as good. How cool is this fan-art of Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn, it’s absolutely poster worthy! Interestingly, no set photos of Cara Dele-whatshername apart from the odd rare (one of her fully covered to avoid costume leak). I’m starting to wonder just what role The Enchantress will play in the DCU film. I think I’m more excited about Suicide Squad than Ant-Man and Batman V Superman, not really too hyped about such films like Gambit though, you get me? 

ANYWAY

In the next few days/weeks, I’ll be back in full force, posting reviews on the new Florence album, doing top 10 lists of live performances and songs from musicals but to name a few. I look forward to start blogging again. It’s fairly exciting! 

Thanks for reading, be sure to check out all my fancy little social media sites. Feel free to subscribe by email to be notified whenever a new blog post comes out! 

1. http://www.news.com.au/entertainment/movies/margot-robbie-transforms-into-harley-quinn-on-suicide-squad-set/story-fnk850z8-1227335016271

2. http://www.zap2it.com/blogs/ant-man_avengers_poster_tv_spot-2015-06

3. http://www.mirror.co.uk/tv/tv-news/doctor-who-spoiler-watch-game-5633767

4. http://www.slashfilm.com/avengers-age-of-ultron-trailer-3/

5. http://www.comicbookmovie.com/fansites/JoshWildingNewsAndReviews/news/?a=120122

ETSY GEEK: DOCTOR WHO

Hello! I’m kind of obsessed with Etsy, and I get quite a lot of my phone cases/cushions/t-shirts from the store because it’s simply great. I’m going to list out 10 items from Etsy that are Doctor Who related, with links included.

1. TARDIS Bowtie 

Heck I’m wearing this when I get married.

Find it here!

2. TARDIS Poster

This would look so cool framed in a simplistic office. Hell yeah. 

Find it here!

3. We’re All Stories In The End Mug

I’d happily drink out of this.

Find it here!

4. Doctor Who Pint Glass

I’d also happily drink out of this.

Find it here!

5. Dalektabowl

The puns are real with this one.

Find it here!

6. Bowties Are Cool Throw Pillow

This would be the perfect addition to my ever-growing collection of pillows. 

Find it here!

7. Fourth Doctor Plushie

This is a fun little collectible, it looks like something a young Doctor Who fan would love.

Find it here!

8. Weeping Angel Converse

Every time somebody you don’t like blinks, you’re one step closer to kicking them in the face.

Find it here!

9. Eighth Doctor Minimalist Poster

Damn this is cool! I’d love to get all of the Doctors lined up next to each other, frame by frame. But, there’s something about this one that really catches my eye. 

Find it here!

10. Silence Will Fall Travel Mug

Imagine sitting on a train/walking into a lecture/being hip and cool with this travel mug. Just imagine.

Find it here!

There’s so much more to Etsy, I love browsing for Doctor Who, Harry Potter, Marvel, and DC stuff. The phone cases are fantastic and the quality from all the Etsy shops is great. 

Etsy

That’s all.

Bye for now

Geek Culture and Me

Curtis

“here in my blurry condition I hide myself in the room and just tell them all that it’s nothing”